Campbell Hall at UCLA is currently occupied, and those occupying it have renamed it Carter-Huggins Hall. I know little about the lives of Bunchy Carter or John Huggins; but I think I know a little bit about the social forces—and the racist state practices—that took their lives just as, if not more, effectively than did the guns. No one is named in this Federal Bureau of Investigation memo, dated 11/29/1968, which describes the FBI’s plans to send an anonymous letter to the Black Panther Party signed by the BPP’s then rival US Organization. It also describes plans to send the Peace and Freedom Party—which was then providing the BPP with monetary and other support—an anonymous letter (ostensibly from the Panthers) stating that “when armed rebellion comes the whites in the PFP will be lined up against the wall with the rest of the whites.” No one knows exactly what happened to lead to the shooting of BPP members and UCLA students Bunchy Carter and John Huggins by two US members on January 17th, 1969. Only since the COINTELPRO documents have been made publicly available do we know—know, that is, with hard evidence rather than speculation and suspicion—the extent to which the FBI sought to foster violence and suspicion between the BPP and other groups. Carter and Huggins were shot at a meeting to nominate chairs for the planned Afro-American Studies program at UCLA. The FBI, to be sure, did not pull the trigger. Rather, the Los Angeles and San Diego FBI branches attempted to foment violence without getting their hands too dirty, to make violence appear as if it were a natural outcome, to let nature take its course, to paraphrase this 1970 document cited here. Information received from local sources indicate that, in general, the membership of the Los Angeles BPP is physically afraid of US members and take premeditated precautions to avoid confrontations. In view of their anxieties, it is not presently felt that the Los Angeles BPP can be prompted into what could result in an internecine struggle between the two organizations… . The Los Angeles Division is aware of the mutually hostile feelings harbored between the organizations and the first opportunity to capitalize on the situation will be maximized. It is intended that US Inc. will be appropriately and discreetly advised of the time and location of BPP activities in order that the two organizations might be brought together and thus grant nature the opportunity to take her due course. When I read this, I think that the only reasonable response is rage. Thank you to the UCLA occupiers for honoring this history by finding one way of continuing to rage against it.

Campbell Hall at UCLA is currently occupied, and those occupying it have renamed it Carter-Huggins Hall. I know little about the lives of Bunchy Carter or John Huggins; but I think I know a little bit about the social forces—and the racist state practices—that took their lives just as, if not more, effectively than did the guns.

No one is named in this Federal Bureau of Investigation memo, dated 11/29/1968, which describes the FBI’s plans to send an anonymous letter to the Black Panther Party signed by the BPP’s then rival US Organization. It also describes plans to send the Peace and Freedom Party—which was then providing the BPP with monetary and other support—an anonymous letter (ostensibly from the Panthers) stating that “when armed rebellion comes the whites in the PFP will be lined up against the wall with the rest of the whites.”

No one knows exactly what happened to lead to the shooting of BPP members and UCLA students Bunchy Carter and John Huggins by two US members on January 17th, 1969. Only since the COINTELPRO documents have been made publicly available do we know—know, that is, with hard evidence rather than speculation and suspicion—the extent to which the FBI sought to foster violence and suspicion between the BPP and other groups.

Carter and Huggins were shot at a meeting to nominate chairs for the planned Afro-American Studies program at UCLA. The FBI, to be sure, did not pull the trigger. Rather, the Los Angeles and San Diego FBI branches attempted to foment violence without getting their hands too dirty, to make violence appear as if it were a natural outcome, to let nature take its course, to paraphrase this 1970 document cited here.

Information received from local sources indicate that, in general, the membership of the Los Angeles BPP is physically afraid of US members and take premeditated precautions to avoid confrontations.

In view of their anxieties, it is not presently felt that the Los Angeles BPP can be prompted into what could result in an internecine struggle between the two organizations… .

The Los Angeles Division is aware of the mutually hostile feelings harbored between the organizations and the first opportunity to capitalize on the situation will be maximized. It is intended that US Inc. will be appropriately and discreetly advised of the time and location of BPP activities in order that the two organizations might be brought together and thus grant nature the opportunity to take her due course.

When I read this, I think that the only reasonable response is rage. Thank you to the UCLA occupiers for honoring this history by finding one way of continuing to rage against it.

Notes

lix liked this
lowendtheory posted this